Food Photography Print Marketing
Lesson 15 from: FAST CLASS: Getting Started in Professional Food PhotographySteve Hansen
Food Photography Print Marketing
Lesson 15 from: FAST CLASS: Getting Started in Professional Food PhotographySteve Hansen
Lessons
Class Introduction: Getting Started in Professional Food Photography
05:57 2Tour of a Modern Food Photography Studio
04:37 3Prop Styling with Malina Lopez
06:03 4Food Styling with Steve & Malina
03:28 5Working with a Digital Technician
05:19 6Food Photography Gear
24:29 7Why Use Natural Light?
08:01 8Natural Light Food Shoot Prep
30:23Food Photo Tools & Tricks
02:30 10Capturing Food in Natural Light
06:54 11Natural Light Shoot Final Touches
19:50 12Shooting For a Client
07:24 13LED Lighting Overview
08:51 14Prep for Oven Shoot with LED Lights
10:36 15Food Photography Print Marketing
04:49 16Food Photography Portfolio Tips
09:14 17Pricing and Negotiating for Food Photography
12:13 18Final Food Photo Career Advice
03:01Lesson Info
Food Photography Print Marketing
Let's go into, I do mailers on occasion. I do postcards that just have, and I'll tell you why I do postcards like this, I try not to do them too much because art directors will get these, a dozen a day or something, they get a lot. So when I do, I like the oblong shape because it sticks out of mail a little better. It kind of works their way into the hand and what I really like to do, is to do tri-folds because these get put in like a cello wrap, like a plastic wrap, and so to put a single postcard in a piece of cello wrap, it is obnoxious. You have to think about how they're gonna react to it, especially when you do something more than just a mailer, like a gift or like a jack-in-the-box that pops out and shoots confetti everywhere, yay! You know, and I'll tell you more about those too on the more extensive marketing promos but I like a tri-fold 'cause it gives them something to read and I can, kind of, showcase more work on it, you know, pictures of the studio. This is a couple years...
old now. This is the old studio but it's kind of a quick way to introduce myself and it's a quick pitch and they can open it. The one thing is they can't stick this to a wall. So I actually did this so at least if they did there'd be a little bit of work. Sort of an instagram-style back. This is actually very good because, you do want to put your name on both sides though, because you don't know which side they're gonna stick to the wall or have on their desk or flip over and they don't wanna. So that was one of the errors I made. I felt like this was really strong on it's own though so mailers are important. You don't want to do it all the time 'cause it's expensive and it's not the most effective thing. It, at the beginning, at least let's people know what you're up to so I do it maybe three to four times a year maybe. It depends on how I'm feeling. And there's some other periodicals I advertise in. This one, I'm part of Ad Edge, which is like 155 photographers or so. And it's kind of like Workbook. I don't know if you ever heard of Workbook or some others. Ad Edge is really good. I'm considering going to the online version only of Workbook, just to kind of be a part of their membership but I love Ad Edge because it limits itself to fairly, not that many photographers. I mean it's 150 but they're all in different disciplines so if they're looking for a food photographer there's like 15 max. And they don't all specialize in food. They just happen to have food in their portfolio. So really narrows it down of someone's looking for ya. And they go to that resource. I know they go to that resource a fair amount. And your also, you pay for a whole year and you're in like four books and you're in, one of the larger books a year. So it, and they're small too, they're very desk-friendly and you're also online. So that's a really good thing. It drives SEO again. It gets your name out there but you have to be involved. You have to tell 'em what you're up to. You have to submit images from campaigns that you've done and keep it fresh. You have to make a very distinct effort. I got the attention of an agent simply because of this, this splash image that I worked on specifically, and I already lost the page, that I worked on specifically this magazine, let's see if I can find it. It's an international magazine. It's just Lurzer's Archive and it showcases, you know, ad campaigns. It's actually a good magazine. I love the print version because I always love print but it's online too. But it just showcases a lot of different work that people have done in both design and advertising. So I created this for the, you know, it's a double page spread. It wasn't too bad and it got the attention of some people and they do read it. I think a lot of this read by other photographers. I know I do. So you wanna differentiate what, you're not looking to market to other photographers. That's the last thing you're trying to do. Who, they don't, I mean I love looking at other people's work and I love this magazine for that reason but you want to know that what you're advertising is going to people who are purchasing the art. And that means actually, if you know someone, asking them , if you work with them, asking them "What are you, where do you find your photographers? 'Cause I get, you now, I got a big job just because I had stock. I had stock at Getty and they used it for their layout and they're like, well, we just want to find out who did this so that's how I got that job so that's another avenue. So it's not one thing. You have to be, you have to slowly work your way up and once you get the budget, once a few jobs come rolling in, I put everything first into the gear I need to execute the shot and then no more. I didn't spend stuff on lenses 'cause I just felt like I liked them and then immediately after, when you start really getting into some jobs that are paying pretty well, is to market like crazy and to not look back. Just all in. You see, you have to be fully ready to do that. You have to know how to overcome those obstacles that you run into But you have to market it like a wave. You have to go after everything.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase